Thursday, February 07, 2008

Until recently, sunblock protected against UVB rays but NOT UVA rays. UVB rays cause burns while UVA rays cause wrinkles and a greater risk of skin cancer. So, you have to wonder, why would American sunscreens opt out of UVA protection?

In America, the amount of UVA protection is not quantified, however, in Europe it is. Thus, we end up with SPF protection of up to 70 yet little to no protection against the harsh and potentially deadly rays of UVA.

Mexoryl, a breakthrough ingredient creating buzz through it's ability to protect against UVA filters, is commonly used in European sunscreens but rarely used in American ones. This is due to the FDA not approving the ingredient.

However, in 2006, L'oreal, which also owns the patent to Mexoryl, was given the go ahead to use the drug in their sunscreens. From my understanding, it is only legal in SPF 20, nothing higher. If you want a higher SPF, you have to get it in Europe or Canada.

It's not Mexoryl, but it's a start... and definitely better then the other sun protection products on the market!

So next time you feel like baking in the sun, PLEASE remember to protect your skin from both UVB AND UVA rays!!! Sunscreen isn't effective if it's just guarding you from UVB... in fact, that's only 1/3 of the protection needed (fine for sun burns, but not for skin cancer)!

And why won't the FDA approve Mexoryl in higher SPF's??? We need to demand more (or fly to Europe to buy our sunscreens...)!

11
comments:

CDS
said...

The only thing to buy is the European sunblocks, the American ones do not have the same level of protection even now that they are claiming to use the same ingredients....my dermatologist confirmed this.

I love the Netrogena Ultra sheer. My derm recommended it as well. For my body I use Lancome UV Expert 20. It has Mexoryl SX. I highly recommend those two. Living in AZ and due to being a past "sun worshiper" I know first hand about UVA damage.

I have only tried one Mexoryl sunscreen so far, but zinc oxide sunscreens are good too, because they protect against UVA and UVB rays, and they are good if you have sensitive skin. Before the summer, I'm going to test more Mexoryl sunscreens. I hope to stay as white as a ghost all summer long!

Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are the only physical blockers and they won't degrade after time like chemical blockers will. Because some chemical ingredients start to degrade after a while and its recommended to reapply every 2 hrs I believe?

But if you notice most sunscreens out there only use chemical blockers because its probably cheaper to manufacture, since physical blockers need to be extremely micro refined so they don't create an opaqueness when applied and to refine it that much costs more money.

In Japan they indicate the amount of UVA protection with +++ signs on the packaging.